Bulletin

GlaxoSmithKline finally sees full-year sales gain

HesterPlumridge

LONDON — GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Wednesday it increased sales marginally last year despite problems in China, reversing two years of falling revenue for the U.K.’s largest drug maker.

Glaxo’s
GSK, +1.05%GSK, +1.16%
fourth-quarter net profit was 2.5 billion pounds ($4.1 billion), up from 864 million pounds a year earlier. Net profit for the year rose to 5.4 billion pounds from 4.5 billion pounds in 2012, while full-year earnings per share rose 4% to 112.2 pence, from 111.4 pence the previous year, on a constant-exchange-rate basis.

Sales for the full year rose 1% to 26.5 billion pounds, and 6.9 billion pounds for the fourth quarter, in line with consensus analyst forecasts of 26.5 billion pounds and 6.8 billion pounds, respectively, according to FactSet.

In Glaxo’s China business, sales of pharmaceuticals and vaccines fell 18% in the fourth quarter, an improvement on the 61% fall in the third quarter.

Glaxo has been struggling to offset a drag on sales from older, off-patent drugs with revenue from new launches. It managed an unprecedented five new drug approvals in the U.S. last year.

But last summer Chinese authorities launched an investigation into the company, accusing it of bribing doctors, hospitals and government officials to boost sales. Glaxo has said it appears some of its senior managers in China may have broken the law, and that it is cooperating with the continuing investigation.

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